This year’s Presidential Medal of Freedom awards had a major sports component, with Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Vin Scully (whose reaction to learning about the medal was great) all among those recognized with the highest American civilian honor. That led to plenty of sports moments at the ceremony Tuesday, including President Obama noting that Jordan (who was again crying) is “more than just an internet meme“:
https://twitter.com/jenearlyspeakin/status/801172683039748097
Obama also had a great description of Scully’s importance:
"You hear the crack of the bat. You’ve got the crowd singing in the 7th-inning stretch. And you’ve got the voice of Vin Scully." pic.twitter.com/4Wc5hWCDdF
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 22, 2016
The Dodgers’ Twitter account posted plenty of photos of Scully at the ceremony, including this one of him receiving the award:
Congrats, #VIN! #MedalofFreedom pic.twitter.com/i5P3laZZWc
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 22, 2016
And here’s Scully with press secretary Josh Earnest, who was on the other side of that call:
"How cool is that?" –@PressSec pic.twitter.com/dlXXDxeNjl
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 22, 2016
And here’s a NBA photo of Scully with Abdul-Jabbar:
LA's finest… Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients @kaj33 & Vin Scully. pic.twitter.com/fweOt42oSD
— NBA (@NBA) November 22, 2016
The best tweet from the day might have been the caption of the Dodgers’ photo of Scully with fellow honoree Bruce Springsteen:
The Boss and Bruce @springsteen. pic.twitter.com/WfwXD1aXRI
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 22, 2016
Well played, Dodgers, well played. The president still accomplished the best trolling of the day, though. We should all refer to the Charlotte Bobcats’ principal owner as Michael “More Than Just An Internet Meme” Jordan now.